Ellie Von K
by bloodshound
Summary: Ellie was on her way to her 1st job, with her mentor when they ran across the vamp Count Von K... oops. OC based  D camio   dream based. 'jotted down note' writing style.  Jumps back n forth a lot.   Lang,rape and all things messed up. U've been warned.


10

It has been a century or two since the incident with Meier Link and Lady Charlotte and those specialising in Vampire Hunting have done their job well. Vampire civilization has well and truly crashed and burned. To the everyday world, Vampires have become few and far between. Even Dhampir are scarce, though D has survived if not prospered. Those Vampires remaining are either in hiding, extremely cautious, or very old and powerful. Most Ancient families have disappeared altogether or have Dhampir descendants. Hunters have for the most part become straight Bounty Hunters or taken on other specialities. However some still stalk the People of the Night and there are always Turned humans to hunt…

Elise (Ellie) Martens- Laiais Top graduating Med. student, potentially powerful Psi. . talent and young doctor on her way to her first practice in the company of her teacher and sponsor Dr. Andrew Reiche. Ellie has wavy auburn /chestnut shoulder length hair. Green eyes – 5.8, pixy like and feisty. She shares her looks and build with her mother and grandmother except that her mother had a ginger poll and her grand mothers was bright red. They all have the same bright green eyes though. She has a good sense of humour and handles the unexpected well. She is 24 and has 2 sibs – an elder brother Dennis and younger sister Margarette. Dennis has darker green eyes and auburn hair while Margarette has green gold eyes and tawny ginger tinged hair. Mother, Lily, was killed when Ellie was 5, leaving father, Thomas and Grandmother Eliza to raise children.

Thomas has light brown hair and hazel-green eyes. He is from a mostly psi-null family (though 2 generations back there is a connection to the Laiaise line through his paternal grandmother Cathlin) and has only intuitive flashes, though he can be contacted via psi link. He carries the potential in his genes though. His father was also a psi null, as are his brothers. Doesn't enjoy psi communication as receiving too many messages one after the other gives him a thumping headache. While he can receive calls he can't send them. He has two brothers, Garry and Kristen. Garry, his elder bro, is dead, lost in a boating accident with his parents when Thomas was 25 and just beginning to court Ellie's mother Lily. His other elder brother Kristen has dark brown hair and hazel-brown eyes and is a widower with three children. He is almost 15 years older than Thomas. He has two sons (Kenny, brown eyes and dark brown hair – 2 kids, 1 of each, and Alex, hazel grey eyes and mid brown hair - 3 kids, 2 fem and a him) and a daughter (Mikaila, grey eyes and mahogany hair – 4 kids, 2 of each) all three of which are married. Between them there are 9 kids by the time Eli (Ellie Von Karthaig's 2nd gen psycho Hound) is born..- 4 boys (Vincent- Vinny, Tristan, Henry, William- Billy) and 5 girls (Taylia- Taya, Katie, Vanessa- Ness, Shandi, Aurin). Grandmother/ mother's side of family almost counted as mutant because of their psychic abilities- though they have been this way for centuries. Grandma Liza was a wild one and married a psi-null, green-gold eyed, dark haired, Peter Kent, despite her parents, Bryce and Tonya's, wishes.

It turned out Grandfather Peter had Dhampir blood in his ancestry [five generations back through his father, Jonas. It's source is Ronda. A village girl who was taken and later returned but Changed and pregnant. Her whole family relocated and moved to an area where they weren't known. Ronda died soon after giving birth but her daughter Dyllis survived and was raised human. She was 'encouraged' to keep what she was to herself and treated as the family shame. She ran off with a gypsy who wasn't afraid of her. She had several children with him which added strength to the clan. (Lara's incidentally) One of these children Donata, caught the attention of Martin, a rich townsmen and married him. All of her siblings and herself are psi talented thanks to her Dhampir mother. Donata was a fine dancer and a great beauty. She was also quite adept at 'fortune telling' and reading the weather. She keeps her husband so besotted he never tires of her. She gives him 3 kids. - 2 sons and a daughter, Selene. Her elder brothers Cecil and Donald take over for her father but Selene falls for and marries a psi null trader. Her sibs were only mild psis but Selene was quite powerful. She and her trader clan husband Alric, (Trentweaver, a rival of Kenross) have 4 kids who are pretty talented. Her kids join their father's family business and they are raised trader tough. 2 of her kids Loren (a boy) and Christina are kidnapped, by vampires it is thought and their parents hire hunter D. Loren and Christina are recovered but have no memory of what happened to them and the vampire D found them with was easily killed. It's hard to believe a turned vampire like that could have held psis like Loren and Christina… even if they were untrained. It is an anomaly but the 2 are returned safely so no one worries over it. Loren and Christina have also developed powerful blocks on their psi abilities. They don't have access to them anymore and can't remember what it was like to use them… though both are unusually insightful and read people easily still. Later, Loren's twin Paul is supposedly lost in a boating accident, yet Loren swears he's still alive. Loren's family thinks Loren is just having trouble dealing with the tragedy since he can't use his power. There has always been a link between Loren and Paul though and it was Paul who helped the Hunters track down Loren and Christina. Loren can't leave it alone and can't settle though and after his youngest child Aylanna turned 16 he left to hunt for Paul properly. He's searched for him on and off over the years but this time he's serious. He kept in touch with his family through his search but 5 years later, just after a letter had arrived saying he was finally close to locating Paul he completely disappears. It isn't until much later that it's discovered all 3 were taken by the Laiaise line ruled by the 300 year old + madwoman, Margo. It had not been intended that Christina return but the hunter her family hired, D, was thorough and powerful. It is from the Trentweaver Merchant clan that Iris, Vernon, Alicia and eventually Bobbie are descended. Christina is also pregnant. She has a son, baby Jonas. He has psi potential but it's like he's been sealed. Since no one knows who his father is he takes on the name of his ancestor family of Kent. His mother isn't thrilled but he is adamant. All of this lot of children, except for Jonas take the name of Trentweaver trading clan and grow up on the road, except their still very psi talented uncle Muro, being a psi and sensing he is being hunted, returns to their gypsy relatives and hides among them, incidentally bringing with him, along with considerable business acumen, a link to the Trentweaver Merchant Clans.

Christina marries inspite of being an unwed mother to rebel, runaway Ruebin from the Kenross trader clan when Jonas was five. The two have a rocky relationship though they try to keep peace in that house for Christina's sake. In Jonas eyes the 'Rube' (slang for a hayseed or country cousin) is a traitor and he doesn't know what his mother was thinking when she decided to marry him. Jonas met preacher's daughter Shirley on and off for several years and finally offered for her when she was 17 and he 20. He settled with her and became his grandfather's contact/agent in the village. He and his son have diluted blood but some traces of enhanced strength and reflexes when adrenaline is pumping. Kick's them into 'high gear'. He kept in contact with his trader family and relations between their gypsy and townsman roots are congenial as well. They didn't know that they had Dhampir blood.] Peter also had a twin, Leanne, who died in a accident when she was 12. She had a weak body due to a fever her dark eyed, brown haired mother, Shirley, had while carrying her. Dhampir genes shielded Peter but they seem to have skipped a generation with Leanne. Possibly why she was affected and he wasn't. The twins were very close. The accident happened when a vampire nobles' mutant spooked their carthorse. It bolted over a cliff, taking Leanne over with it. She died in the fall. Peter was thrown clear but knocked out. His parents never fully recovered from the loss, but they were happy when he met and then married Liza. [The Hound Jack took time and pleasure to hunt down the Vampire noble responsible and kill her; the mutant responsible and all of that mutants family and retaliations… and took his time with their deaths. Ellie is quite startled when he returns and presents her with their shrunken heads (Nobody is game to ask where he learned that) and the deed to the very dead Noble Woman's property which was worth quite a bit. Ellie is planning to deed it to his offspring. Grandfather Peter was already dead by then though. Pity. He would have approved. The property has become Hound Central. Those not on duty stay there though technically it is the property of Jack's family and offspring. The current Hound of his line becomes Master of the castle (Which is nick-named 'the Kennel') when the previous Master dies.] It took Peter time to make peace enough with his past to feel ready for marriage but Liza was willing to wait. He was almost 36 when they meet and she was 23. They married 4 years later and after another 3 years Lily was born. Liza kept her family name. She became Eliza Marie Kent- Laiais. Peter died at 70, trying to help save a neighbours children in an earthquake. He used his strength to protect them from the falling rubble then collapsed in exhaustion. Died a week later.- he is part of the reason Ellie wanted to be a doctor. Liza lived to be 105 and died of old age. She had only a single red haired, green eyed, brother, Tod, who at 22, married as his parents wished and died fairly young. He was 10 years younger than Liza. He and his family (wife, Maisy Case and kids, Arrisa and Macie) died less than 4 years later when their house collapsed in another earthquake. After that her parents reconciled with Liza, inspite of the way she was raising her daughter, now their sole heir. They also disapproved when she allowed her daughter, Lily to choose her own mate. Lily met Thomas at 18 and married him at 23. Dennis came at 25, Ellie at 31 and Marggie at 34. The only relatives Ellie has left apart from her father and siblings, are her paternal uncle and her cousins. Ellie is the most powerful psi seen in quite a while (5 generations or so) and a lot of her power isn't being used to its fullest. Her special knack is healing which is why her granddam encouraged her ambition to become a trained doctor. Ellie also studied nursing while she was doing her training as due to her abilities she found the course she was studying not easy but not enough of challenge. Her intelligence is up into the low genius range, possibly boosted by her psi abilities. Her sibs are also psi talented but not as strongly as Ellie. Part of what drew the Counts attention to her.

Count Antonious Lee Von Karthaig - Vampire Noble (regular vampire colouring, pale . . hair and dark ruby eyes) who discovers Ellie and Doc Reiche travelling across his turf and much taken with Ellie decides to take her for himself. Thanks to being stuffed around by the villagers, they end up galloping over the plains near his castle in the early evening. He is surprised at Ellie's resistance to his mesmerism and charmed by her nervous politeness. She is nervous, but she isn't showing either terror or defiance. She is startled. They had heard that there weren't all that many Vampires left so they were quite surprised when he stopped them. The horses are spooked as the Count brought along some of his mutants. It doesn't take much… Ellie and the Doc are speaking to him politely; asking if there is something the Count might accept other than their necks. After all, they didn't know this was his territory, otherwise they would have detoured. They don't want any trouble and they certainly didn't intend to trespass. She doesn't have much cash but she offers to pay for the privilege of crossing his land. The Count has another form of payment in mind. Ellie doesn't put out for anyone and she has no intention of giving it up to him... if she has a choice in the matter. Just when they thought they might talk him around there is trouble, their spooked carthorses bolt. The Count commands that they stop the cart, immediately! The Doc has been knocked cold and Ellie has been knocked into the back of the cart. Ellie can see the Count's mutants keeping pace with them and knows their only chance is to stop the cart… but this will mean revealing her power. Still, if they don't stop… they're dead. Captivity or death… not very good choices but Ellie doesn't want her dear friend and mentor killed. She struggles back up in the jouncing cart and sees the Doc's been K. and the reins are dangling. After a moments pause, Ellie uses her powers to regain control by picking up the dangling reins and calming the horses. The Count didn't miss that little trick… Long and short – they were captured. Doc was placed in stasis as an assurance for Ellie's good behaviour. Ellie, confined to quarters, meets and befriends 12/13 year old blond Lyla, the Counts blind, but psychic human servant girl. Ellie is sorry for her and being a Psi as well offers to lend her the use of her eyes and for the 1st time Lyla sees herself through Ellie's eyes- though everything is from Ellie's perspective. Ellie could easily have escaped and even rescued the Doc. The Castle mutants and unnatural creatures would have been no match for her considerable psi abilities. There was for one little thing keeping her from this option…Thrall Hold. Thanks to that she couldn't so much as stir a leg outside her rooms without the Counts permission. Before Ellie knows it she's married to the Count and sharing his bed. At least she was awake for the ceremony though. She came to him and asked a favour, two actually. The first, is though she doesn't know the specifics of a vampire wedding ceremony she would very much like Lyla to be her attendant… Lyla can use her eyes for the duration. The second is she would like to be awake and aware for the ceremony. She has no intention of causing trouble and even if she could fight the Thrall hold, he still had Doc Reiche as his hostage. All she wishes, since this will likely be her first and last wedding, is to be awake for it… even if it frightening or painful… it's her wedding too and she'd like to be awake for it. She has no illusions about what'll happen to her when the Count tires of her so she'd like to make the most of this part at least. Her requests sets the Count roaring with laughter, even as he admires her courage… he's never met a human like her before and grants her requests. The ceremony isn't what she would have imagined for her wedding or the man she is married to, one she really wants… but hey, a wedding is a wedding. She determines to make the most of things for this part anyway. Having a pretty good idea of the fate of most of her predecessors she determines to be as boring as she can in order to make the Count lose interest faster. She wishes to get her eminent destruction over with as quickly as possible as she has no chance of escape. - But she's very bad at being boring. She's a bright and vivacious person even under Thrall hold and can't hide it. She even entertains Lylia - Mirai, the Count's daughter who disapproves of her father's dalliances. Young Lyla allows Ellie to see and speak with Doc who's still in stasis but rouses when in her presence. After a month or two in the castle as the Counts wife, Ellie takes up studying the local mutants in lieu of anything more useful to do and shares/discusses her studies with the still in stasis Doc Reiche (who really wishes he could get out of his tube and do some research himself) while they are fascinating studies; this really isn't what she was trained for. She begins to get restless and a month or two later, bored stiff and willing to risk it, asks the Count if she might visit the village. She can sense need down there, things that the local Doctor can't or isn't dealing with and it's like a nagging in the back of her mind. She could tune it out but why should she. She has a gift, is trained in the use of it and now wants to put it into practice… surely, he can allow that… She hopes.

"I'm a Doctor and a Healer, my lord, as well as you wife. Please allow me to practice my arts among the villagers. I sense there is a need there. It's been gradually building, nagging at me like an itch I can't reach. There is something the local doctor can't or won't deal with but I probably can. I'd like to try at least. Besides, my lord husband," she dared to lay a hand on his arm. "As your wife, I feel I have a responsibility to these people… power, when used correctly, should work both ways. This is how I was trained. You have a right to take what you need from these people but in return, a noble lord should see to the welfare of his people. Since you take what you need from them directly, without needing cash or produce, would it hurt to allow me to give back to them a little? I know they set us up on a plate for you but I can forgive that… who's to say if I were a villager that I wouldn't have done the same to divert attention from my family? I will venture no further than the lands surrounding the village 2 gather what I need. My lord would know if I attempted to leave his lands and I doubt I'd get far if I tried to run. Besides which, even though you are not quite what I would have chosen in husband, you are and I can't change that… so at least allow me to fulfil my obligations to your people for as long as I am here…"

The Count cupped her chin and kissed her and she did not flinch from him. "Oh, are you going somewhere?"

"Only where all we mortals go in the end" she said with droll humour. "Mean time, I would very much like to do the job I was trained for."

"The only 'job' you have now is to be my woman."

"Then keep me Thrall tranced all the time, my lord, if you just want a play thing. I'm healer trained and a psi… we're not made to just stand around being decorative. You married a doctor and a healer and this is how we generally are. I can't change, even for you."

"And if I deny you this?"

"I can't do anything about it… but I WILL keep asking whenever I am awake… and I will send the mutants out with medical herbs I've collected to the doctor or local wise woman, whenever I sense need. Not even your bite, my lord husband, can override what I am, and that is a healer. I need to help people the way you need blood. I can't help that, anymore than you can. It won't interfere with my duty to you. I will make sure of that."

He gathered her too him, bit her and drank before taking her to the bedroom. Later, after he was finished, he finally gave permission, providing that her bodyguard mutants (her former door guards) accompanied her everywhere. She agreed with an ease that had him suspicious. As he rolled back on top of her, he murmured. "They will not accept you, my wife, knowing that you are mine."

"Perhaps not at first," she smiled against his lips. "But they will become used to me, to seeing me around, especially when they come to realise that the only interest I have in their blood is on a blood test result." Her eyes laughed up at him, the expression lighting up her face. It pleased him to see joy on her face, though it was an odd feeling to care if he made another happy. He had pursued his own pleasure for so long. She had started off merely another addition in a long line of women with which he whiled away the centuries, but she charmed and amused him. She did not ask for much and took such refusals he gave her with good, if sad, grace. He found he contemplated thoughts of turning her, before she lost her current beauty and vitality. The mutants would see that she didn't try anything, though since becoming his latest Bride she had been obedient, loyal and cheerful, even without being controlled.

He found he looked forward to seeing what she did next. He was mildly surprised when she put her arms around him and said. "Thank you my husband," In his ear. "After all, since I'm going to be here for a while I may as well be useful… As my dear old daddy used to say, 'everyone needs a hobby.'"

He laughed again and nothing was said for sometime after.

The Count is amazed and amused in that it only takes her a month or two before the people of the village accept that she is genuinely interested in their health and general welfare; nor does she hold a grudge from being set up. She is willing to speak to the Count on their behalf if there is something that REALLY needs to be brought to his attention. She has set up a bird contact system at the village Inn. If she's really needed they send a messenger bird. She teaches Lyla medicine as she goes and a few of the more intelligent castle mutants are trained as aides including Laska and Luuridos, her door guards, turned bodyguards. Laska looks like a cliché yeti except that her fur is pale pink and her eyes are crystal like and bright blue. Only her palms and the soles of her feet are hairless. She 'speaks' telepathically even with these who are ungifted. She has great physical strength but more importantly from the Count's point of view, she has a natural and impenetrable mind shield. Luuridos on the other hand has overwhelming short-range psychic power. His physical body looks a bit like a green scaled, hairless monkey, including prehensile tail, paws and jumping ability. He has sentient intelligence and also communicates telepathically. He normally rides on his partners shoulder so it looks like a yeti with a pet monkey. Hampered as she is by the Count's demands, Ellie can't counter the combination of Laska's physical strength and Luuridos psi abilities.

Ellie and Jarad, the brown haired, brown-eyed local doctor (once he unbends enough) get together and compare notes. He's good but doesn't have her psi boost when it comes to healing and there are a number of injuries and illness that are beyond him. Ellie, with his backing, deals with these though he is always in attendance to reassure the villagers… not that any of them would dare to lay a finger on her but unless she forced the situation nor would they allow her to help without him being there. He helps her sneak a message to her father saying she is well but probably indefinitely detained and to send a message to the town her job was in telling them likewise.

2 years later the villagers have adjusted to having a Bride who cares about the village below the castle to the point where they ignore her mutant guards as if they weren't there. She and Jared got their heads together and allowed it to leak that she is a certain kind of psi talent, a powerful healer. As such, her innate abilities are holding back the effects of the Counts bite… and he has to bite her regularly to keep her even though she is a Bride now and his latest wife. Long and short, they have nothing to fear from her. Not all of this is true. The Count doesn't need to bite her continuously to hold her now, though he does like too. The wedding ceremony saw to that. However, it IS true that her innate abilities are keeping the vampire infection of the Counts bite in check. Jared did some tests and the villagers trust him. Nor are the Doc and the Healer ever alone together even when speaking privately. There is always at least one other person in sight of them, so no one can claim she is influencing him in anyway… not unless she's managed to hypnotize the entire village. These safe guards are kept up for the first year or two before the villagers come to trust her a little more.

However, half way through the second year she is the one with the problem. She is pregnant and in bad condition. She hasn't told the Count… not because she doesn't want to but because to be in his presence stirs her child… which drains her of energy and vitality until she passes out. All the Count knows is that she is deathly ill and she can't stay awake long enough to tell him what is wrong. Nor will the Count allow Doctor Jared up to the castle to care for her. Instead, to her sorrow, the Count turns Doc Reiche and has him attend her. The Count is perfectly willing to have her sad, as long as she survives. Ellie can tell her former mentor a little of what is happening within her when she is awake but the pregnancy is exhausting for her. For some reason it's only the Count himself that causes the child to stir. Doc Reiche liaises with Doc Jarad and borrows some of his equipment, explaining the situation to him. Jared is only too happy to help. One of those Ellie has restored to health was his mother. Doc Reiche looks at the test results and is afraid, for himself and for Ellie.

Still, he approaches his new master with his results.

He kneels, kissing the hand extended to him.

"Speak slave, what ails my wife!"

"I have good news and bad news, master."

"Well, speak on!"

"The good news is the mistress is pregnant. She is carrying your child but that is also part of the bad news. Pregnancy has placed a great strain on a body already stretched to the limit. It isn't easy for a normal human to live in the atmosphere of the master's castle. Her body is also still fighting the effects of your 'kiss' master. She can't help this… carrying masters child has upset the balance…"

"So cure her. You ARE a doctor are you not?"

The fledgling vampire dared to shake his head. "I cannot master. The only thing that will help is removing one of the things straining her body… and since neither master's child nor the effects of his 'kiss' can be removed…"

The Count understood perfectly and had no intention of losing his wife or child to be. "Very well, the village then…"

His fledge dared shake his head again. "We can try master, but I don't know if it will be enough. It is your presence that set's the child off. The closer the mistress is to you, my master, the higher the risk to her and the child. I don't know why master triggers such a harsh reaction in his child but he does. I can run further tests…"

Doc Reiche cringed at his master's wrath. His master was furious and someone might not survive it. As his fledgling bowed his head, awaiting whatever display of wrath his master chose to visit on him, the Count took the equivalent of a deep breath and spoke once more, his voice deadly and level. He wasn't DONE with this woman yet. She would NOT escape him so easily!

"What will it take to keep her alive!"

"Master, let me take her out of the area. She will recover more quickly and there is a stronger chance of the child being born alive… but we must move her now! Before she weakens further. If we could first move her to the village and with your permission master, I'd like to contact her family. I knew them and the mistress of old. I was a family friend while they were growing up and what her grandmother lacks in power she makes up for in skill. All her family are psi talented. They will also see that master has marked both of us and be sensible about things… after all, mistress is loyal to her husband and wishes him no harm… she would be very angry with her family if they don't abide by her wishes. To her mind, no matter how she came to that state, married is still married and must be honoured. Despite the fact that the further she is from master the better at the moment, her family will see for themselves that we can go no further than master will allow us and master can thought summon us at any time. We both know we can't escape you, master and for mistress sake I would not even if I could."

"Very well. Do as you have suggested… but I will expect daily updates and I will be watching. Lyla will accompany you and I will meet this…grandmother of my wife as soon as she arrives… you will bring her to me."

"Master," Doc Reiche bowed lower still.

A special covered wagon is rigged and Ellie is carefully transported down to Doctor Jarad's place. More specifically, to his mother's cottage, just behind his house. Even at 85 his mother is very spry, mainly thanks to Ellie. She has no problem taking care of a Bride… as long as it's Ellie. This way Ellie will also be out of the line of sight. The villagers have been forbidden to approach her and Doc Reiche sleeps in a coffin in the cottage basement. To make certain the interdiction is obeyed, her bodyguard mutants have turned door guard once more. They are to keep anyone not on the accepted list from the house and from bothering the house… the villagers might be less than impressed with having the Bride in the village and have a shot at doing something about it… the Count is taking no chances. His fledgling minion is fed with medical blood while in the village.

Away from the Count and the castle and under the expert care of Mrs Dorrie Jarad, Doc Rieche and Doc Jarad, Ellie begins to rally. The Count monitors her continuously through Lyla but Ellie doesn't mind. She quite surprised that he would care enough to do so, all things considered.

Ellie is thrilled to hear her grandmother is coming. While she's better, she is still very sick and very, very weak. Liza arrives two weeks later and strides straight passed the door mutants as if they aren't there. She is not intimidated by Doc Rieche or pretty much anything else… up to and including the Count. After she he checked on her granddaughter and made sure all is well only then does she consent to see the Count. He's a little awed by the formidable old woman. What a Bride SHE would have made in her younger years. She does quite approve of Dorrie though and she finds Lyla adorable.

Together she and the team nurse Ellie through the rest of her pregnancy, resulting in healthy Dampier twins, a boy and a girl. Ellie is still very weak though and Doc Rieche would like to take her out the area entirely.

Although he still can't approach his weakened wife. Their grandmother does bring her young grandchildren to their father. Count does hold his children and marks them before Eliza can intervene. They will be as responsive to his will as their mother is.

Once he has his master's permission Doc Reiche contacts the Firm Ellie was to have worked for and finds her position and his were not held for them but similar ones can be arranged for their arrival. That works. He suggests taking Ellie there for a while. Since Ellie was unavailable and even when she was the Count couldn't approach he has become distracted by a seriously cute but gold-digging village girl, he allows them to go… after delivering a typically vampire warning to Doc Rieche.

"I will expect weekly messages and updates on my wife's condition, transmitted through Lyla. Take her, your mistress, her guards, my children and GO! Know this, should ANYTHING happen to her while you are gone I will hold you, personally responsible. Now be gone!"

Laska and Luuridos go with them but behave as pets and guard the house while the mistress and Doc Reiche are out. After all, their young master isn't old enough to travel yet and he and his twin a perfectly safe within the house with the two of them on guard. It also gives the locals and Ellie a chance to adjust to the new situation gradually and mostly without incident. This break lasts for 12 odd years. When his wife and children relocated the Count felt that his children could use a little extra protection. By his order, Laska and Luuridos become Tam's bodyguards as a gift from his father. Thanks to Luuridos abilities when their young master is old enough to leave the house, they are able to accompany him. No one ever sees them or remembers they were there. Kayli's pair were a little delayed in their arrival due to having to make a side trip to eliminate an old enemy that the Count felt was living a little to near his wife's new residence and job so Tam's pair care for both until they arrive. Kayli's pair are the stick thin, black leather skinned, coal eyed and immensely strong Arkayla and viciously mentally and physically talented were spider Lakaya. Arkayla's skin turns hard like a beetle shell when she is attacked and she can glide either by herself or carrying her mistress and /or partner by forming a glider with her body. Her special talent is adaptability. Her body will adjust to the current situation in the best way to protect her mistress. She can also release and control pheromones which effect and control human moods and memory. Thanks to these, she and her partner can accompany her mistress everywhere she goes. No one remembers or even notes their presence no matter their appearance. Lakaya is a were spider and even in human form she looks predatory. She is blond with red/brown eyes and has fangs even in human form. She can do anything a web-spinning spider does, including spin/cast webs of different kinds, can travel up and down walls, leap/ lift ten times what an average human can. Her senses are far beyond what humans are capable of even in human from. She can carry her mistress and partner in were and spider forms. She can also communicate with and control other spiders. Her venom is extremely toxic though Ellie has created an antivenin. She can track her partner's pheromone trail through just about anything. As Tam and Kayli grow up around these mutants they hold no terror for them even when their physical forms are horrific. Spiders hold no fear for Kayli, in fact she often uses them for keeping an eye on this person or that. Due to her were form Doc Reiche isn't the only one who has those making themselves inconvenient to the Lady (Ellie) disappear without a trace. It is Lakaya who rids their area of infectious or otherwise inconvenient corpses. Unlike the were wolves she isn't forced to change at the full of the moon.

After the arrival of Kaylee's pair at their new residence, the trio and Doc Reiche take over guarding Ellie. Ellie didn't get a say in the arrival of her children's' guardian mutants but she does have a say in how far they can go in protecting her kids. The four mutants get along well enough together and the twins occasionally loan each other their mutant bodyguards and often use the mutants' abilities in pursuing their own interests. All four mutants live to see their master/mistress first children. Apart from their mutant bodyguard/servants Ellie raises her Dhampir children as human as possible. The Count isn't as oblivious to his wife and children as he seems. He has sent a trio of castle mutants Lume, Lamia and Luksasha to guard his wife when the Doc can't. They are to be unobtrusive and his wife and children have no knowledge of them… though Lyla, the mutant bodyguards and the Doc know of them and are to do all in their power to smooth the trio's way. Lume is a casual friend of Lyla and her brother Yume is more than that. Yume is the closest thing Lyla had to a best friend and troublemaker before Ellie's arrival. The trio's powers and body forms are completely different but they work well as a team and the Count has used them before. They are to keep a low profile but his family's safety takes priority. It's a matter of pride. Originally Ellie was to stay only until she recovered her strength but the Count's attention is diverted and so the stay is extended.

Lume's body and power is light and shadow. While given the courtesy title of female she is infact asexual though her brother is fully male. While accessing her light abilities her body is like a prism, collecting light with in. Her physical form is visible only as a faint outline. Once she removes her robe Lume can bend light around herself to blend into her background. She can also use the light stored to blind, start fires, even cut by concentrating it to a laser point of different sizes and strengths. She can also create 'light shields' that can absorb impact and deflect projectiles. She can also create false images by reflecting light and heat… even to infrared or ultraviolet ranges. She can manipulate heat to small degree but is far better with light. She can duplicate a beast or persons unique thermal pattern with the same ease she absorbs light around her. If she chooses she can also give off a gentle glow. It was from that her name was taken. When her light powers are active she is diamond hard. It takes literally a split second to switch from light to shadow or back. Her shadow powers allow her to literally melt into and become one with the shadows travelling through them with the same ease she absorbs light. By becoming one with the shadows there is no darkness to her. She can see easily though she can't bring others through the shadows with her. In shadow form she has as much substance as a shadow so she can't be harmed though she can't touch anything either. She can cause anyone she 'touches' to become shadow form briefly too though only for about 10 minutes at a time. She can also manipulate the shadows around her into any form she wishes. Great for intimidation. In shadow form she is a dark silhouette when she can be seen at all. Her brother Yume has a little of his sister's shadow powers, enough to get himself into places he shouldn't be. He also has blades on his knees and elbows and wings stretched between them, along with purple furry skin, pointed ears and a crest of blue-black hair, which stops at his neck, though the ponytail reaches to his knees. His eyes are yellow, with slit-pupils. No way known he could ever be mistaken for human but that means nothing to Lyla or Ellie for that matter. All they care about is his personality.

Lamia looks fairly human, enough to pass under a robe anyway. Her eyes and face are human most of the time too… except that she's a were wolf. She can change any time assuming wolf or were change form but on the full of the moon she must change. In later years, thanks to experiments in herb craft by Ellie and some others a were can take them before full moon so when the change comes on them they retain their minds. Her brother Coioril has remained at their master's side and is one he trusts most to guard his back. Even when she's not changed nothing short of silver or fire will kill her and her wounds heal incredibly fast. Her bite passes on the taint. Unlike many, she and her brother were born were wolves and have been in the Count's service all their lives. Their parents were in his service too though they were turned.

Luksasha has elastic limbs and is completely boneless. Thanks to this she can slide through even the tiniest gap and her general consistency is rubbery. She can't be shot though she can be stabbed or cut and bleeds blackish ichor if she is. As long as she isn't cut with a laser like blade being cut can't kill her. Her skin is human coloured but her ears are pointed and she is completely bald. Her eyes are gold but with split pupils. She is quite attractive in an alien kind of way. Ellie senses them but as they intend no harm she doesn't look them up. She meets and thanks them properly after she returns to the castle. They have a lot of respect for the tough, resilient lady.


End file.
